By The American Tribune | Created at 2026-10-16 10:15:59 | Updated at 2026-10-16 10:43:37
28 minutes ago
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico told a Catholic voter that the Bible is “silent” on abortion, only to have her answer him with one of the Ten Commandments. Jodi Hunt confronted Talarico during a televised town hall and challenged his attempt to reconcile Christianity with his support for abortion rights. She also pushed back on his proposed common ground involving contraception and government-backed sex education. Talarico continued defending his position after her response.
The exchange happened Wednesday night during a CNN and Jubilee town hall in Fort Worth, Texas, moderated by CNN anchor Erin Burnett. The event placed individual Texas voters across a table from Talarico for timed debates over issues on which they disagreed. Hunt, an independent voter, farmer, university professor, and Catholic theologian, was selected to debate Talarico on abortion.
Hunt introduced herself as an eighth-generation Texan, a wife, and a mother of three. She explained that Catholics believe human life begins at conception and that the unborn must be protected. Hunt asked how Catholics could trust Talarico to protect other Texans if he wouldn’t support policies protecting “the most innocent among us,” meaning unborn children.
Talarico thanked Hunt for raising the issue and pointed to Pope Francis and Pope Leo as spiritual heroes who were “consistently pro-life.” During the exchange, he argued that Christians could reach different moral conclusions about abortion because Scripture doesn’t address the subject directly. “We’re both Christians and the Bible is silent on the issue of abortion,” Talarico said. “It means you and I both have to look at different scriptures to try to come to a conclusion.”
He urged Hunt to treat abortion as a public-health issue instead of a theological or cultural dispute. Talarico said they could work together to reduce unplanned pregnancies and abortions through health care, access to contraception, and what he described as scientifically valid, age-appropriate sex education. “We may have different moral conclusions when it comes to this particular ethical question, but we actually have the same public policy goal,” he said.
Hunt allowed Talarico to finish before directly rejecting his description of Scripture and Christian teaching on the subject. “I just want to add that the Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the 10 Commandments: ‘Thou shall not kill.’ And as Catholics, we take great insult, I guess sometimes, when it’s described that way,” she said as the audience applauded.
Watch the Christian voter confront Talarico here:
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Hunt also pushed back on Talarico’s proposed use of contraception and sex education to reduce abortions. She explained that Catholics believe parents are the primary educators of their children and said government interference in that responsibility is another serious concern. Hunt acknowledged that they would continue to disagree, though she appreciated his remarks about protecting life “from the womb to the tomb.”
Talarico responded that he would oppose abortion if he believed it constituted murder under the Ten Commandments. “If I believed that abortion was murder, that it violated the Ten Commandments, then I wouldn’t support it,” he said. He attacked Texas’ abortion restrictions, claiming women were dying from sepsis because doctors feared providing emergency care and pointing to pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
Hunt remained firm on the central issue despite Talarico’s attempt to find common ground through government programs and public-health policy. She had already explained that Catholics believe the unborn possess human dignity from conception and challenged him to support policies protecting them. “We believe that at the moment of conception, there’s a human life to protect,” Hunt said. “As people, we are to protect that life at all costs.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.
